Hermes and Aphrodite
by TheCentauress
Summary: The tragic story of a slightly different spring... NOT! There should be a few really glaring differences tho'. Believe me, THIS is a _really_ ALTERNATE universe...


Ranma 1/2:  
The first days of the last beginning  
By Cynthia M Johnston.  
  
Author's notes: Yes, yes, I know that this is another 'Alterverse'  
fic, but bear with me. The idea that hit me was to use 'Ac/Dc,'  
written by Fire-san, as a basic idea for a starting point.   
  
It got me thinking; what if, with the general insanity that crops  
up in the whole arrival of a certain redhead into the Tendo's  
lives, there was a certain thread of _love_ present still between  
our two star-crossed protagonists.  
  
Ahem. So here I start; the same place as countless others. I  
would once again like to thank Fire-san for the germ of an Idea  
that is now starting to flower...  
Chapter One:  
A first impression is often the only one you get...  
As the Tendo daughters were digesting the fact of their  
father not having the vaguest idea of what their new fiance was   
like, a loud rapping upon the door was heard.  
  
"Oooh," Nabiki exclaimed, jumping to her feet and rushing to   
the entryway. The other two girls remained in their seats,  
watching as their father ran after her.  
  
"Nabiki _is_ eager," Kasumi noted, brushing at her apron  
idly. "Still, I do hope that this 'Ranma' isn't immature."  
  
Akane sighed. "Sis," she lamented, "if he's my age, he'll  
probably be a jerk." Grinding her knuckles into her calves, she  
continued. "He'll want to grope or fight; it's probably better  
you know it now."  
  
The larger girl glanced at her sister, about to refute the  
rash decision, when the sound of their absent family members'   
panicked return interrupted them. They looked toward the doorway  
and gasped in unison.  
  
There, framed in the shadowed doorway, stood a short figure  
sporting a shaggily-cut mane of firey-red hair. The person, their  
gender not clearly visible due to the rain-soaked poncho covering  
their small body, was clearly a martial artist of some type. Upon  
the stranger's back was a rucksack that was easily large enough to  
hold five people of the same size as the person wearing it. This,  
strange as it may sound after said description, was not the reason  
for the panic or surprise.  
  
No; the cause of the disturbance was located easily by the  
simple expiedent of looking a few decimeters higher. It was a   
horrifing sight, with it's wide-spread frame covered in damp,  
matted fur, it's body lifted on it's rear paws and it's forelimbs  
spread into an obvious attack position. The two seated girls drew  
in breaths to shriek, when the new arrival's eyes widened in   
shock.  
  
"No!" the person cried in a musical, lilting soprano.   
"Don't scream! This animal isn't vicious, he's just wet!" The   
towering panda agreed with the statement with a almost-human   
looking bob of it's head as it shook it's limbs in a futile attempt  
to rid itself of the annoying moisture.  
  
"W-w-who are you?" Soun finally gasped out.  
  
The small figure shrugged out of their pack's straps, letting  
the weighty bundle slide quietly to the floor. With a drop of  
their forehead, the person replied, "Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout  
this."  
  
Nabiki straightened from her cowering position behind her  
father. "Ooh," she gasped, her eyes going glittery in  
appreciation. "You're cute."  
  
Ranma grinned, opening his mouth to reply, when he was  
yanked into a body-engulfing bear hug by a joyous Soun. "My boy!"  
he chortled. "I'm so glad you're here!"  
  
The elder man suddenly stiffened, much to his daughters'  
surprise. The trio watched as their father mechanically squeezed  
the small figure a second time, then push the redhead back to the  
full extension of his arms.  
  
The middle daughter trotted up to stand beside him, looking  
over Ranma. She stuck a finger into the mound of flesh revealed  
by the manhandling.  
  
"Daddy," she stated in a deadpan voice, "'our fiance' is a  
girl."  
  
The fire-haired girl blushed, darting out a finger of her  
own. "Do _you_ like doing that?" she hissed, doing the same.  
  
In a slow spiral, the Tendo patriarch collapsed into  
unconsciousness. Nabiki, however, just pitched forward as she  
slipped into the arms of Morpheos.  
  
*** ***  
  
About a half an hour later, everyone was gathered around  
the slowly awakening father.  
  
"Father," Kasumi 'tsked'. "Engaging us to a girl. Really."  
  
Soun weeped gently. "But Genma said Ranma was a boy," he  
tried to argue.  
  
Nabiki growled. "Does she look like a _boy_?" she countered,  
reaching toward the redhead. She was about to grip a breast,  
when her earlier experience with the other girl's speed registered.  
Trying to appear as if it were her intent, she waved the hand at  
Ranma's chest. "Most _boys_," she grumbled, "don't have 28 DD  
breasts inside their shirts." Only Akane noted the raw blush that  
burned on the smaller girl's cheeks.  
  
Something inside her crumbled. *She's been ill-treated by  
life,* the blue-haired girl realized. *The Kami only know just  
what life has given her.* She felt the gentle smile form on her face  
as she placed a hand upon the smaller girl's shoulder. "Hi," she  
stated in a gentle voice. "I'm Akane. Would you like to be friends?"  
  
The girl quirked a slight, half-sad/half-wry smile.  
  
*** ***  
  
Ranma stood from the bath, just as Akane opened the door.  
  
The dark-haired girl froze in shock as she beheld the figure  
that was standing upright in the tub. Her hair, unbound, fell   
around her shoulders in a wave of ruby strands. The breasts, while  
large for the height of the body they were on, were perfectly formed  
and hung with a weight that proved that they were natural. The hips  
and legs were sleek, showing that she was true to the claims she made   
of being a well-trained girl.  
  
What hung in their junction also looked completely natural,  
as odd as it seemed. Where the rest of the body cried girl, this one  
item would cause anyone to doubt it. As the redhead began to blush,  
it stirred slightly, revealing the proper parts hiding behind.  
  
With a little gulp, Akane slid the door shut as she sank down  
to her knees. "Wha- what is that?" she managed to stutter out, her  
eyes wide in shock.  
  
Ranma sank back down into the water. "I suppose you deserve  
an explanation," she admitted. At the jerky nod, she sighed. "When  
we started out on our journey," she said in a small voice, "Pops was  
reading a book on 'mystic oddities'." She gave a snort of disgust.  
"He didn't believe it. We went directly to Jusenkyo, the Pools of  
Sorrow. He fell into the Shonmaonichuan. I fell into the Nyann-nanichuan."  
  
Akane gulped. "Is it permanent?" she squeaked.  
  
The redhead shrugged. "For me, yeah. If I had fell into any  
of the hundred other springs, hot water would turn me into my birth  
form. The Spring of drowned Girl-boy, unfortunately, is the _only_   
one that had been used to drown so many unwanted children that the  
magic would attach with such strength that no water, no matter how  
hot, will change a person back."  
  
The Tendo girl digested this. "Are you a girl or a boy, then?"  
she enquired gently.  
  
`The redhead rested her head against the rim of the tub and  
gave her a wall-eyed look. "Does it matter, really?" she probed.   
"I've live like this for over ten years."  
  
Leaning back against the wall, the larger girl smiled gently.  
"How did you cope?" she probed, starting to enjoy the smaller girl's  
company again.  
  
"Well," the smaller girl smiled, "growing up, I passed myself  
off as male. With no chest and careful movements in the showers, it  
wasn't hard. A couplea' years ago, I went through puberty."  
  
Akane made a face. "Bleah," she stated succuntly.  
  
Ranma agreed with a grin. "Added with the first stirrings of  
that other thing, yeah," she added. "Remember, that spring was   
magic. Turns out, I'm _very_ healthy."  
  
Akane blushed. "Gahh," she yelped. "Bit too much information,  
there."  
  
The bathing herm reddened as well. "Heh," she chuckled. "Look  
at it from _my_ point of view."  
  
They both sat quietly for a moment, then began to giggle together.  
*** ***  
  
`At the table about an hour later, the four Tendos sat across  
from the two Saotomes. Leaning her head into her hand, Ranma waved her  
other hand at her father. "So here's the deal," she began to explain to the  
three confused people watching her, "Pops is cursed by a magic spring.  
When splashed by cold water, he becomes a panda. Hot water will change  
him back, (as if anything _can_ change him,) but just until he runs into  
cold water again."  
  
As Nabiki was lifting her glass to test the theory, her younger  
sister put a hand on her arm. "Oneechan," Akane said gently, "let her  
finish."  
  
Ranma smiled in thanks. "Now, for myself," she continued in an  
even voice, "I fell into a different spring while I was there. In my  
case, there is no changing. I've had this form for the last ten years and  
I will have it for the rest of my life."  
  
Into the silence, Kasumi's voice was unnaturally loud. "Why?"  
  
The redhead grimaced. "It's like this," she explained. "The  
springs become stronger the more times that something the same drowns in  
them. Only a handful of pandas drowned in the Shonmaonichuan, so the water  
is only a slight bit mor powerful than, say, the spring of drowned piglet."  
Her features darkened. "The spring _I_ fell into, however, was used to  
rid people of unwanted children. Over the two thousand, seven hundred  
years that the spring has been there, tens of thousands of the same people  
as I became were drowned there. Most of them were no more than babies."  
  
Nabiki gulped. "Wh... what spring?" she whispered.  
  
"Nyann-nanichuan," the small girl responded in an even softer  
voice.  
  
Soun beamed. "Then your situation is not so bad," he chortled.  
  
Within an eyeblink, the two elder sisters were prepared to force  
their youngest sister forward. They facefaulted when she took a step  
toward the still-kneeling redhead.  
  
"I'll do it," she answered the unasked question. "She's not  
that bad a person to be engaged to."  
  
Suddenly, Ranma was emitting an aura as strong as an arc lamp.  
Turning slowly toward her father, she asked in a sweet, happy voice that  
was at extreme odds with the homicidal glare in her eyes, "What is this  
about an _ENGAGEMENT_, Daddy?!!?"  
  
Mayhem ensued.  
AUTHOR'S BABBLE: BWAHAHAHAH! Of all the stories I've read so far, no  
more than a handful have our titular hero as anything than male or female.  
That really got me thinking; what if Ranma were mentally and _physically_  
both? Ranma really can't remember being anything else, so the usual part  
of hir's (Non-gender possesive pronoun) attitude is easily diffused.  
  
About Akane: she just made friends with this interesting person, who  
is, almost completely, female. She can be a friend with her - this is her own view of Ranma. At the same time, Ranma can still make babies, as the  
equipment she carries supposedly works. Living as a girl, Akane knows that  
the redhead can't be too perverted; if she gets those thoughts, however,  
it _will_ show. Plus, being both didn't seem to change the boygirl too much...  
  
So that's why there wasn't too much mayhem in the bath. Just trust me, though,  
there WILL be... 


End file.
